Tourism & Hospitality | Thursday 21 April, 2016 3:14 am |

Oman’s growing reputation as one of the most diverse, beautiful year round tourism destinations in the Middle East will be at the heart of the Ministry of Tourism, Oman presence at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai from 25th to 28th April.

 

The distinctive pavilion for Oman has been designed to resemble a traditional historic fort and the Sultanate’s rich history and heritage will be a focal point for Ministry officials and partners to promote the huge variety of visitor experiences the country has to offer.

 

Nearly 30 hotel operators and travel agents will be participating with Oman Tourism to promote attractions from across the country and tourism representatives will include the country’s Director General of Tourism Promotion, Salim Al Mamari and the Director of the Oman Convention Bureau, Khalid Al Zadjali.

 

One of the key areas that Oman will be promoting is the major growth in opportunities for the Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) sector that will open up shortly with the opening of the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre in Muscat later this year.

 

This purpose built centre will include five hotels as well as a number of purpose built exhibition halls and state of the art conference facilities that will enable Oman to host the largest regional and international events in the future.

 

Commenting on their participation at ATM, Mr. Al Mamari said: “The Arabian Travel Market is the most important regional platform for us every year to promote the new and exciting developments in the tourism industry in Oman.  In recent years we have seen significant growth in visitor numbers with a 17.7 per cent increase in tourists in 2015 with over 2.4 million people visiting the Sultanate from around the world.

 

“We are confident that this growth is set to continue as new hotels are opening, new attractions are being completed and Oman’s reputation as a year-round destination for tourists with an unmatched variety of experiences continues to grow.

 

“We will be using the Arabian Travel Market to announce a number of exciting new hotels that will either open this year or are set to enter the Oman market in the near future – adding to the world class quality that we already offer to our visitors across the country from the mountains of Al Jabal Al Akhdar to the beautiful coastline from Muscat to Salalah.”